


Two of a Kind

by gluupor



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Aaron and Nicky aren't on the exy team, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, M/M, Miscommunication, Mistaken Identity, Twin Shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-19
Updated: 2019-09-19
Packaged: 2020-10-24 04:34:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20700008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gluupor/pseuds/gluupor
Summary: When Aaron didn't get offered an exy scholarship while Andrew did, they came up with a plan. Andrew would play exy and Aaron would go to class. No one would ever know that they were actually two separate people.What could possibly go wrong?





	Two of a Kind

**Author's Note:**

  * For [moonix](https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonix/gifts).

> This is written for moonix, who read my fic [Better Safe than Sorry](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20315059) and then told me she wanted to read a fic based on a throw away line from it. Since she obviously deserves everything she wants, I wrote it for her. Thank you for giving me the title and for being a generally awesome person.

Andrew slumped through the apartment door, tired from a long day.

“You’re late,” said Aaron, who was waiting for him while practically tapping his foot in impatience. “I have an evening class and I need the student card.”

Andrew fished the required item out of his wallet and flicked it at his brother, feeling abruptly better as Aaron flailed and batted the student card away from his face.

“Who did you talk to today?” Aaron asked, scowling as he bent to pick up the card.

“Kevin, at practice,” said Andrew. “A girl in my Intro to Crim class—she wanted to borrow a pencil, I said no—and my prof said a few words to me when he handed back our first assignment. Nothing important enough for you to know.”

Aaron nodded and hastily began shoving his books into his school bag. He was dressed all in black, like they both always were. It was easier if they stuck to a single colour. He pulled on his own set of armbands. His were knifeless; Andrew wasn’t willing to share.

“I didn’t eat so you can have dinner on our meal plan,” said Andrew, heading to the fridge to see what was in it. They really needed to get better at restocking it now that Nicky wasn’t around anymore to do it for them. “Oh,” he said, aiming for nonchalance, “and the barista at The Bean has been flirting with me; don’t ruin it for me.”

Aaron paused on his way out the door. “Which barista?” he asked, something strange in his tone.

“Redhead,” said Andrew, waving a hand over his hair. “Only slightly taller than us. Snarky. Gorgeous. Name tag says Alex.” He held his breath, waiting. He’d hadn’t come out to Aaron yet and he was a little worried about his reaction.

“Oh, um…” said Aaron, suddenly hesitant. “That’s… I… Alex has been flirting with me, too. I was going to make a move.”

Andrew stared, feeling his mouth drop open. Aaron was gay, too? Or, at least, into guys? Why did Aaron have to be into this particular guy? And—Andrew’s stomach squirmed in discomfort—they’d been flirting? Did that mean that the barista’s small smiles were actually for _Aaron_, not Andrew?

Aaron looked just as appalled as Andrew did at the revelation.

“You can’t,” blurted Andrew. “We can’t date anyone, remember?” he recovered. “No one can know we’re two people.”

“Right,” sighed Aaron. “It’s just… those blue eyes.” He shrugged helplessly.

Andrew felt ill at the thought of Aaron and Alex together. “No hot baristas,” he said decisively. Then, more quietly to himself once Aaron was gone, “No matter how much we want him.”

* * *

It was probably illegal to pretend to be the same person so Aaron could access post-secondary education. Fraud or something; Andrew didn’t know. Or care all that much. All he knew was that his own ability to stand in the way of exy balls gave him a chance to go to college free of charge and Aaron’s history of spotty attendance and drug abuse before his mother’s death meant that he wasn’t eligible for any academic scholarships. He’d turned practically green with envy when Andrew got offered a free education while Aaron was left on the sidelines, unable to afford college.

Andrew had seen his chance to strengthen their flimsy relationship and had made an offer: they could both go. Andrew didn’t care much for academics, so he’d sign up for the classes Aaron wanted. That way, Aaron could attend classes while Andrew made sure to attend exy practices and games in order to keep his scholarship secure. Aaron had insisted on taking a minor that interested Andrew—criminology—so Andrew could at least get _some_ education.

It was only September of their first year, but so far the ruse seemed to be working. They’d been in Palmetto since late May for Andrew’s pre-season exy practices and classes had begun at the end of August. Aaron went to classes and studied hard, Andrew went to exy practices and avoided talking to many people. And they both apparently flirted with the cute barista at the coffee place on the way to school.

Andrew technically had a dorm room with some of his teammates where one of them sometimes slept if they were on campus particularly late or early, but it was easier to swap places off campus. Their cousin Nicky had helped them pay for their apartment once he sold his house in Columbia—rolling his eyes at their antics, but trying his best to be supportive. He had provided them a home for the last two years of high school; Andrew had been in juvie after a childhood of hopping between foster homes when he’d been contacted by his biological family. Following his release, he moved across the country to live with his estranged mother and twin. However, his mother had died of a drug overdose the week before he arrived and his and Aaron’s cousin had stepped in to help them out. After they finished high school, Nicky moved back to Germany to be with his boyfriend, but he still called and texted frequently.

Andrew knew it was ridiculous to be so put out that Alex was flirting with Aaron—it was the point that no one knew that “Andrew Minyard” was actually two different human beings—but he couldn’t help but feel a small stab of betrayal. He almost never flirted with purpose, but Alex had caught his attention right from the beginning, back when he and Aaron had first moved to Palmetto. He was sarcastic and he took no shit from any of the coffee shop’s patrons, which Andrew imagined was probably bad for Alex’s ability to keep his job, but which had caught and held Andrew’s interest.

Evidently, Aaron agreed with him. This was bad. Andrew had no idea what to do.

* * *

By mutual agreement, Andrew and Aaron decided to avoid the coffee shop from then on. Of course, it was an _unspoken_ mutual agreement, which meant that Andrew hadn’t actually _said_ he was going to avoid the coffee shop. Therefore, he wasn’t technically breaking any promises to Aaron by continuing to get his morning coffee there. At least that’s what he told himself as he pushed into the coffee shop bright and early on his way to practice. He liked to get a latte on his way there, only partly to see Alex (and partly for the caffeine and partly to piss Kevin off, of course). Alex worked a lot of very early morning shifts; Andrew had only seen him there before practice and sometimes on weekends. He wondered what he did during the day. He looked to be about the same age as Andrew; was he a student at Palmetto State? He hoped that Alex didn’t have any classes with Aaron; that would give Aaron an unfair advantage.

Andrew stifled his yawn as he made his way to the counter. Alex was bright and awake as always; disgustingly, he seemed to be a morning person.

“Your usual?” he asked Andrew, already punching his order into the cash. He picked up a paper to-go cup and paused before writing anything. “What name should I put on it?”

“Andrew,” replied Andrew, wondering why Alex was asking. He was sure that Alex must know his name since he knew his order.

“Not anything else? Something different?” pressed Alex.

“No?” said Andrew, unwittingly turning it into a question. He wondered if Aaron had recently screwed up and given his own name.

Alex’s eyes sparkled like he was part of an inside joke, but wrote ANDREW on the cup and passed it back to his coworker who was in charge of the drinks bar.

“Want a chocolate croissant?” asked Alex, smoothing over the strange moment. “They’re still warm out of the oven.”

Andrew bit his lip, weighing the pros and cons. The obvious pro was getting a delicious pastry. The cons involved getting a lecture from Kevin and Coach Wymack assigning him extra laps if he found out he’d only had sugar and no protein for breakfast. Of course, his other option was eating nothing for breakfast…

He finally nodded. He could eat it before he got to school. No one would know.

Alex shot him a conspiratorial smile and put the pastry in a paper bag before telling Andrew his total cost for the order. Andrew handed over his student card—the reason he started coming to this coffee shop was because they were one of the places around town that had a deal with the university and accepted students’ meal plans as payment—and took the croissant out of the bag, shoving half of it into his mouth.

“Andrew Minyard,” said Alex thoughtfully, eyeing the student card as he returned it. “You look familiar. Have I seen you somewhere else?”

Andrew hastily swallowed and shook his head. “I don’t think so,” he said, tripping over his words. He looked like no one. He absolutely didn’t have a doppelganger running around.

“No, I’m sure you’re familiar.”

“I just have one of those faces.”

“I don’t think—” he cut himself off. “Wait, are you on the exy team?”

“No—yes,” said Andrew, hastily correcting himself. He hadn’t been expecting Alex to know that. “Are you a fan?” On one hand, Andrew cared very little about exy, except for what it could get him and Aaron. On the other hand, if Alex was impressed by his status as a college athlete that was an indication that Alex was actually interested in _him_ and not Aaron.

“Kevin Day and I go way back,” said Alex, which didn’t precisely answer Andrew’s question. His face turned amused, again like he was laughing at something beyond Andrew’s comprehension. “He’s going to murder me if he finds out I gave you that croissant.”

“My lips are sealed,” promised Andrew.

Alex grinned at him and nodded at the clock. “Better hurry if you don’t want to be late for practice.”

Andrew swore and shoved the remainder of the croissant into his mouth as he booked it out of the coffee shop. Just before he left, he turned and gave Alex a parting salute.

* * *

“Bad news,” said Andrew as soon as Aaron picked up his phone.

“Great,” said Aaron dryly. “What have you done now?”

Andrew stretched his neck and glanced over campus from his vantage point on the roof of Fox Tower, the athletes’ dorm. He’d broken the lock earlier in the year so he’d have somewhere private to call Aaron whenever he had to stay overnight in his dorm room. He wished for a cigarette, but he’d quit cold turkey when he and Aaron made their deal. Andrew always held up his end of a bargain and he couldn’t afford to potentially lose his place on the exy team by ruining his lungs. “Kevin’s having lunch with you tomorrow,” he broke the news to Aaron.

“Tell him no.”

“What makes you think that I didn’t?” asked Andrew, feeling irritated. It was like Kevin could sniff out the clandestine croissant Andrew had eaten that morning and was punishing him. He’d been insufferable all day, insisting on going places with Andrew and trying to make plans for future socialization. “He’s not great at no. He’s definitely going to turn up after your bio class tomorrow to drag you to lunch.”

“Awesome,” drawled Aaron. “You know I don’t know anything about your stupid stickball sport; what are we even going to talk about?”

“Kevin doesn’t care much if you don’t participate in the conversation,” Andrew explained. “He’s capable of talking about exy for hours without any external input.”

“Sounds fun.”

“It’s part of the joy of being me.”

“Oh, speaking of,” said Aaron, “you know Mindy, from work?”

“I know _of_ her.”

“She was wondering if I’d switch shifts with her on Friday; she’s working in the morning. Since you’re the one working the afternoon shift, I told her I’d get back to her.”

“Yeah, I can switch,” said Andrew. Aaron had a job at a nearby diner to supplement Andrew’s scholarship money; as with everything else in their lives, they pretended to be the same person, trading off shifts depending on their class schedule.

“I’ll let her know,” said Aaron. “Anything else to relay?”

Andrew briefly considered telling Aaron about his and Alex’s conversation, but decided against it. He’d rather keep it to himself.

“I had another appointment with Betsy Dobson today,” he said instead.

Aaron groaned. “I thought we agreed that you were just going to sit in silence through your mandatory appointment and that would be that. Why are you still going to see her?”

Andrew shrugged, not really understanding it himself. There was just something about the therapist that made her feel like a kindred spirit. “She makes good cocoa.”

“Just… just don’t tell her anything she shouldn’t know,” warned Aaron.

“I’m not an idiot.”

Without anything more to talk about, Andrew hung up and heaved himself off the cool concrete, sighing as he made his way back down the stairs to his dorm. He shared with Kevin and with two other players on the exy team. He couldn’t reliably tell them apart or remember their names: he thought they were Dylan and Tyler, or maybe Ryder—something generic with a y, anyway. He braced himself for a long night—even though he had the top bunk and all of his roommates were afraid of him, sleeping in the dorm was much less preferable than in his own bed behind a locked door.

“Minyard,” greeted maybe-Dylan when he unlocked the door to their suite. “Wasn’t expecting to see you.”

“Nice hickey, dude,” added maybe-Tyler, shooting him a thumbs up.

Andrew didn’t reply, heading into the bedroom to grab his toiletries kit and sweats to sleep in.

“Girlfriend kick you out?” teased maybe-Dylan.

Andrew paused and turned slowly to stare at him. “I don’t have a girlfriend.”

Maybe-Tyler swatted maybe-Dylan playfully. “I told you; he’s a total player. I heard he’s with a different girl every night.”

Andrew shook his head and left them to their suppositions; whatever explanations they’d come up with for his frequent absences were fine with him. Once he got into the bathroom, he figured out what “hickey” maybe-Tyler had been talking about: he had a sizeable bruise on the side of his neck from when he’d sparred with another one of his exy teammates, Renee, earlier in the day. She was fast and had easily gotten past his guard. He was learning a lot from her.

He’d have to be more careful about getting bruises in visible locations, though. It wouldn’t do to have mysterious disappearing and reappearing marks on his skin whenever he and Aaron swapped places.

* * *

Andrew was exhausted when he got home the next evening. He hadn’t slept well in the dorm; every noise made by any of the other occupants had put him at full alert, never letting him relax. The best he’d managed was a light doze for several hours. Kevin’s alarm started going off every nine minutes for a full hour before he had to get up for morning practice and then maybe-Tyler had hogged the bathroom while maybe-Dylan somehow managed to break the coffee machine. Needless to say, Andrew was already tired and ready for a nap before practice even began.

Afterwards, he’d gotten a couple hours sleep back at his apartment, but he had to drag himself to afternoon practice and then to work for his evening shift. He wondered how normal people survived college: he and Aaron were sharing their work load but he was still floundering. Of course, most people weren’t athletes who were also taking a full course load while maintaining a part-time job.

He’d just settled on the couch with a bag of chips when Aaron arrived, finally home after his full day of classes. On days he had class bracketing Andrew’s afternoon practice, he’d taken to barricading himself in one of the library’s study rooms and doing his homework where no one could accidentally see him.

“How was lunch?” Andrew asked. He marvelled at how this was a normal question for him to ask Aaron. They shared everything about their days now, which was so different from how they’d avoided talking to each other at all in high school. He hadn’t expected the closeness that had necessarily resulted from pretending to be one person.

“It was good,” said Aaron, slightly dreamily. “Kevin didn’t say anything when you saw him at practice?”

“He said things,” answered Andrew. “But nothing I bothered to listen to.”

“Um…” said Aaron, uncharacteristically hesitant. “That barista you were talking about last week joined us. You know, Alex?”

Andrew’s brow furrowed. “What? Why?”

“It wasn’t me! It was Kevin; apparently they’ve known each other for years.”

Which Andrew knew to be true; Alex had told him so himself. “Did you talk about exy?”

“They did; I didn’t join in.”

Andrew felt sick. “You know you can’t…” he trailed off and shrugged.

“I know,” said Aaron sharply. “You don’t have to keep reminding me. And don’t forget that you can’t, either.” He huffed and went into his room, slamming the door behind him.

* * *

Andrew meant to avoid the coffee shop after that, he really did, but the coffee was way better than anything available on campus or that he could make at home, and it nearly always came with a pastry. It wasn’t his fault that he ended up exchanging words with Alex every morning—that was just being polite, and Andrew was nothing if not polite.

“Got those chocolate caramel tarts you like today,” called Alex as soon as Andrew entered the shop on his way to practice about a week later.

Andrew suppressed a moan. This was his dream, right here. Delicious pastries provided by a hot guy. It was everything he needed in life.

Alex had his order punched in by the time he made it to the cash, but as usual he waited with the cup to ask Andrew his name. Andrew had started giving different names every morning, to cover in case Aaron had previously slipped.

“Bruce Wayne,” he said, not feeling particularly inventive that morning. For the last few days he’d been giving last names of famous Andrews, but he couldn’t think of anyone else today, even taking into account morons who shortened their name to Andy. So far, he’d been Jackson, Garfield, Warhol, and Samburg.

Alex scoffed, but wrote the name anyway.

“I see you’re also someone new today,” said Andrew, nodding at Alex’s name tag, which today read “Stef”.

“Oh,” said Alex in surprise, looking down. “Yeah, I got in slightly later than usual today and Alex was taken.”

“What?” Andrew was certain it wasn’t just his morning brain that made that sentence make no sense.

“The staff turnover rate is so high that the owner of this place refuses to buy new name tags for everyone. Instead, he made up five of them with what he considers gender neutral names and we have to grab one when we get here. I always go for Alex. I think it suits me more than Stef—which, according to my boss is a _super common_ short form of either Stefan or Stefanie, _obviously_.” His voice was dripping with sarcasm.

“Your name’s not Alex?” asked Andrew in confusion.

“Nope!” said not-Alex happily. “I’m Neil.”

“Neil,” repeated Andrew, mentally assigning him the new name. It fit him.

“Bruce,” replied Neil gravely, handing over Andrew’s coffee and pastry. “See you tomorrow?”

Andrew nodded and backed out of the shop.

* * *

“Look, okay, I can’t do it anymore,” said Aaron, stomping into their apartment. Andrew was eating leftover takeout noodles at the kitchen table. He paused with his fork halfway to his mouth.

“You can’t do what?” he asked warily. It wasn’t too late in the school year to drop classes, but did Andrew even want to bother with college by himself?

“I know that I owe you everything for getting me into college, but it’s not fair that you get to decide who I can and can’t spend time with. I’m going to ask Alex on a date and that’s final.” Despite his ultimatum Aaron looked both nervous and wretched.

“You know, his actual name is Neil,” said Andrew, feeling queasy.

Aaron stared at him. “What do you mean, ‘his’?” he stuttered. “Alex is a woman. She’s the snarky redheaded barista at The Bean; I thought you were also attracted to her.”

“The snarky redheaded barista I’m attracted to is named Neil,” said Andrew in a strangled voice.

“But… what… how… I…” Aaron trailed off. “You’re gay?” he squawked.

Andrew nodded and schooled his face, not letting any emotion show through. He waited nervously for Aaron’s reaction.

“Oh, thank god,” said Aaron, collapsing into the chair across from Andrew.

“...That’s not the reaction I was expecting.”

“I might have had an issue with it if I hadn’t just realized how fucking similar our taste in people is,” admitted Aaron. “Right now all I can feel is relief that we’re attracted to different genders, because holy shit. Now I don’t have to worry about you liking Alex, too.”

“That’s probably not her real name,” said Andrew. “Neil said they share the name tags.”

“Well, I’ll figure out her name when I ask her out.”

Andrew didn’t want to ruin his brother’s good mood but he felt compelled to point out, “You probably shouldn’t date her, anyway. We’re still pretending to be the same person.”

Aaron only waved him off. “I’ve never noticed your guy at The Bean.”

“He’s there in the mornings.”

“Exactly. The two of them probably don’t even know each other; they work different shifts. As long as we’re careful, like we are with school and work, I think we can handle it.”

“You’re going to have to keep pretending your name is Andrew.”

“Maybe I’ll get her to call me by a nickname…” mused Aaron. “Do you think she’ll buy that I just go by ‘A’?”

“What a great nickname, A-ron,” said Andrew sarcastically.

“Shut up, it’ll work.”

Andrew bit his lip. “You’re assuming I’m going to ask Neil out.”

“Aren’t you?” asked Aaron. “I can tell how much you like him by how annoyed you were with me when you thought I had lunch with him.”

Andrew frowned and looked away. He’d thought he’d hidden his irritation better. It was unexpected how well Aaron could see through his facade sometimes.

“Come on,” coaxed Aaron. “I’ll date her, you’ll date him. What could go wrong?”

Andrew could practically feel his resistance to the idea crumbling. He _did_ want to see whether things could progress past flirting with Neil. He didn’t have high hopes, but maybe something good could happen.

And, really, what was the worst that could happen?

* * *

“So what’s new with you two?” asked Neil’s stepfather, George, turning to look at Neil and his sister expectantly.

“Da-ad,” whined Katelyn jokingly, “don’t you know showing an interest in your kids’ lives is uncool?”

George was undeterred. “Aw, come on,” he cajoled. “Neil, what about you? Any fun stories from The Bean?”

“Nah,” said Neil, shoveling a spoonful of pasta into his mouth. “Only—”

“Manners,” said his mother primly.

Neil chewed and swallowed before saying anything further. “Only that the guy who Kitty has a crush on was in today.”

“Oooo, Kitty has a crush?” asked George, as Katelyn shot Neil a betrayed look, her blue eyes flashing with annoyance. “Tell us about him.”

“He looks exactly like the guy _Bug_ has a crush on,” said Katelyn triumphantly. Neil kicked her under the table. He hated that nickname, which had originated when Katelyn was nine and misheard _mealybugs_ as _Neil-y bugs_.

“_Neil_ has a crush?” repeated George, his eyes going wide. “Now that _is_ new.”

“Apparently, we’re both into short blonds,” said Katelyn. “There’s something really weird about the two of them, though. I think they’re doing a twin swap or there’s a parent trap situation going on or something. Both of them claim their name is Andrew, but they’re clearly two different people.”

“Although your guy always hesitates a little before he says it, like he’s reminding himself,” said Neil.

“They sound suspicious. You should stay away from them,” his mother cut in immediately.

“Now, Mary, don’t ruin their fun,” said George. “A little harmless flirting never hurt anyone. I thought Neil would finish high school without anyone catching his eye.”

Neil flushed in embarrassment and looked down. He could vaguely remember what having a bad father was like (his mother had left his birth father when he was only three) so he could never be anything but grateful for George’s love and support but he often wished that he wasn’t _quite_ so interested in his life. “Can we go back to talking about Kitty’s crush?” he asked desperately.

“That’s nothing new,” said George, waving a dismissive hand. “Katelyn gets a new crush every time someone new smiles at her.”

“Hey,” said Katelyn, with false affront. “I’m not that easy.”

“You kinda are,” piped up Neil’s mom. “Remember Carlos from next door?”

“That had nothing to do with his _smile_,” said Neil, with an evil grin. “He used to lie shirtless in his backyard. She could see him from her bedroom window.”

“We are _talking_ about how _Neil_ has a _crush_ on a _boy_,” said Katelyn quellingly. “He’s on the exy team.”

“I know,” said Neil, unable to help the pride that entered his voice. He loved exy with a passion and was hoping to get recruited to a college team next year. He thought there was a good chance he could stay in Palmetto; George was old friends with David Wymack, the exy coach, and Neil had played Little League with his son, Kevin.

His mother’s eyes narrowed. “What do you even know about this boy?” She’d mellowed out a lot since she’d met George when Neil was six and let herself fall in love, but her protective instincts still flared up from time to time. She never liked any new people in Neil or Katelyn’s lives at first. She’d been having a hard year, since Katelyn started at college in September and began making new friends and dating new people. At least Katelyn hadn’t moved away for college; Neil didn’t think his mother would react well to either of them leaving yet.

“Mary,” said Katelyn, rolling her eyes and twining a strand of her reddish-brown hair around her finger. Neither Neil nor Katelyn looked similar to Mary or George, but they did coincidentally look like each other. People often mistook them for biological siblings. “He’s a guy Neil enjoys flirting with at his job. It’s not serious.”

“I’m not flirting,” protested Neil. “We just talk sometimes when I’m at cash and we’re waiting for his horrifying sugar concoction to be made. He’s… I don’t know, there’s just something about him.”

“He sounds nice,” said George kindly.

“He really isn’t,” said Neil.

“What would a bitch like Neil do with nice?” asked Katelyn.

“Language,” scolded Neil’s mom.

“I’m not doing anything with him,” protested Neil. “I just like to talk to him, is all. Nothing’s going to come of it. He’s not interested in me like that.”

* * *

Andrew’s palms were sweating. He’d never done anything like this before. He’d approached a couple guys in juvie to propose getting off together, but that had been simple. He’d done his research to find out who might be amenable and he didn’t care if they said no. He made sure to go after guys that he could easily take down if they turned violent. The hookups he’d found during high school in Columbia had been similar, but in the back of his mind he knew he was working his way up to actually dating someone. It wasn’t until now that anyone had captured enough of his interest that he considered lowering his barriers. As such, he hadn’t ever asked anybody out on an actual date and he’d never cared about being rejected.

He surreptitiously wiped his hands on his jeans before pulling the coffee shop’s door open. Glancing up at the counter, his heart fell. Neil was nowhere in sight. The staff door at the back crashed open and Neil came through, carrying a tray of danishes. Andrew breathed out in relief.

“Hey, Andrew,” he called. “I’ll be with you in a second. How many of these danishes do you want? Six?”

“One,” answered Andrew. He might be ignoring his team diet, but he was trying to comply as much as possible.

“What else can I get you? Your regular?”

“Yeah, and…” Andrew breathed in deeply, “your number?”

Neil froze and looked up at him. “I… what?” he asked, poleaxed.

“Your number?” repeated Andrew, trying to make it a statement but not succeeding. “I thought you might like to get lunch sometime? With me, I mean. Together. The two of us. Like a date?”

Neil was still staring at him. This was not going well. “You want… with me?” he asked.

“Uh huh,” said Andrew, nodding quickly. “If you want to. If not, just say no and we can forget I asked.”

“I do, but…” Neil bit his lip. “It’s just, I’m not allowed out for lunch without parental permission.”

“Um,” said Andrew, not quite sure what to do with that. “Your parents don’t let you eat?”

“No, my school doesn’t let us out.”

Andrew still didn’t understand. “Don’t you go to PSU…?”

“Oh!” said Neil. “No, I’m still in high school. That’s why I only work here in the early mornings before school or on weekends.”

“Oh,” said Andrew, wondering if it was creepy for him to date someone in high school. He was only a freshman; he wouldn’t be nineteen for another month. “How old are you?” he asked suspiciously. He knew there was a rule for this, something like half his age plus seven? So if he counted himself as nineteen and rounded up nine and a half to ten, then Neil couldn’t be younger than seventeen. That sounded right.

“Eighteen in January,” said Neil defensively. “I’m a senior.”

“That’s okay then,” said Andrew in relief. “So, lunch this weekend? Or dinner one day after school?”

“I have exy practice after school, but maybe Saturday?” suggested Neil, looking gratified that Andrew still wanted to go out with him. “Give me your number, and I’ll text you.”

“Okay,” said Andrew, feeling the tension in his shoulders relax. After exchanging numbers and getting his order, he left the shop, stopping in the doorway to give Neil a parting salute. He felt absurdly like whistling happily. He quashed the impulse; it would never do to let his teammates think he was anything but a joyless and terrifying individual. Then they might want to _talk_ to him.

* * *

Neil was annoyed that he’d been assigned a shift that no one was willing to cover for him on the Sunday before Andrew’s birthday. He’d originally been planning on taking out his maybe-boyfriend (they hadn’t yet defined their relationship, but they’d been regularly seeing each other outside of Neil’s place of employment for almost a month now, and had even kissed a few times) for dessert to celebrate him turning nineteen.

Andrew had been vague about his plans for his actual birthday—Neil assumed that he was probably going to do something with his mysterious lookalike who Katelyn was currently dating, but Andrew was still acting like he was an only child and became evasive every time the topic of his family came up. Neil didn’t push. He knew that to outsiders he appeared to have a perfect family life, with two loving parents and a sibling he was close with, but there were parts of his early history that he never shared with anyone. He understood not wanting to talk.

As irritated as he was with having to work, he was pleased that Katelyn had a shift at the same time. They rarely got to work together; most of Neil’s shifts were in the very early morning before school (he’d had a hard time convincing his parents to let him work so early, but in the end he’d gotten them to agree by giving a speech about Becoming An Adult And Learning Responsibility and similar bullshit he didn’t care about—he needed the money to spend on exy gear) and hers were usually in the afternoons or early evenings when she didn’t have class. Between their work and school schedules and his exy practices and games and her extra-curriculars, they barely saw each other. Especially now that they were both in fledgling relationships.

They started off their shift with a thumb war to determine who got to be Alex (Neil pouted when he lost and had to be Chris). Then they had a second thumb war to decide who was on cash and who was making drinks; Neil lost that, too, and began to think she might be cheating. In fact, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d won a thumb war against her. He’d have to come up with another way for them to solve arguments. Maybe he could convince her to race him; he was definitely faster than she was.

Sunday mornings were slow, especially since The Bean was so close to the PSU campus. Most of their patrons came in blinking sleepily, clearly hungover or still drunk. Katelyn herself was looking a little peaky—she’d been at a sorority’s Hallowe’en bash the night before.

They got an influx of patrons from the Lutheran Church down the block after service was finished, but mostly it was quiet, allowing Katelyn to sit on the counter next to Neil, nursing a caramel macchiato and catching him up on all her newest gossip.

Just before lunch, Kevin Day shuffled into The Bean, followed by several people who Neil recognized as his exy teammates. He dragged himself to the counter. “Coffee,” he moaned pitifully. “Asshole One broke the machine again.”

“Good morning to you, too, Kevin,” said Neil brightly. “What kind of coffee do you want?”

“Fuck you,” replied Kevin, before blinking up at him in confusion. “Neil? What are you doing here?”

“I work here.”

“Since when?”

Neil turned to where Katelyn was waiting for instruction. “Make him the strongest thing we have,” he said. “It should be strong enough to eat holes in his stomach.”

“Katelyn?” asked Kevin, still sounding baffled. “What is—do you _live_ here?” He looked around wildly. “Where _am_ I?”

Dan Wilds, the exy team captain, gently pushed Kevin aside. “Did you seriously just call your roommate Asshole One and then swear at the barista?” she asked sternly. She turned a tired but kind smile on Neil. “Sorry about him; he’s still feral.”

“I’m well acquainted with his Kevinosity,” said Neil.

“My condolences.”

Neil grinned. “It looks like you guys had a fun party last night.”

“And now there is a family of opossums living in my head.” Dan squinted up at their menu options. “Um… big, black, sweet.”

“Just how you like your men,” said Matt Boyd smugly from behind her.

“And silent,” added Dan.

After placing their orders and getting their coffee, the exy team members commandeered a table together. Neil watched them wistfully. Next year he might be one of them, instead of being relegated to the sidelines. Katelyn sidled up next to him and knocked their shoulders together, seemingly able to hear the maudlin direction of his thoughts.

The bell chimed as the door opened and Neil looked up to see the man he’d taken to calling not-Andrew walk in. Neil supposed he could see why other people didn’t seem to notice the difference between them: they were the same height and build (he thought not-Andrew had slightly less impressive shoulders, though), had the same colour hair and eyes, and exclusively wore black clothing and black armbands. But that was all superficial. They held themselves differently, their resting expressions were different—both were blank, but not-Andrew seemed angrier—their mannerisms were distinct. Plus, not-Andrew was definitely distracted by women’s cleavage (especially when the women were tall enough to put their breasts at eye height for him) while Neil had only ever noticed Andrew ogling men.

Not-Andrew looked up, a slight smile gracing his face when he caught sight of Katelyn. He froze a second later when he glanced Neil beside her, and his face paled when Matt called out, “Andrew!” in greeting.

His eyes darted around like those of a trapped animal and he did the only thing he could: he turned and hurried out of The Bean, not looking back.

Katelyn scoffed, but she sounded fond. “I’m going to give him a hard time about that.”

“Do you think that Andrew will pretend later that it was him?” asked Neil.

“Probably,” said Katelyn, shaking her head ruefully. “I wonder what those two fool boys are up to.”

Not-Andrew’s abrupt exit caused a frisson of anger to go through the exy players’ table. Eavesdropping, Neil was surprised that none of them seemed to realize that it wasn’t actually their teammate who they’d just seen.

“He just gets worse and worse,” complained Dan loudly. “I don’t know what to do; I’ve tried to integrate him with the team but he doesn’t even _try_.”

“Not everyone is as comfortable socializing as you are,” said goalie Renee Walker (_yes_, Neil knew all the exy players’ names. Sue him, he was a fan of the PSU foxes). There was a twinkle in her eye that made Neil think she had an idea that it wasn’t Andrew who’d been in the shop.

“As long as he keeps shutting down the goal, I don’t see why it matters,” said Kevin.

“Of course you don’t; you’re almost as bad as he is,” Matt pointed out.

“At least _you_ sleep in your own dorm,” said Dan. “You’re not out getting laid six nights out of seven.”

Katelyn shot Neil a worried glance.

“I still can_not_ believe how much sex that man has,” added Allison Reynolds bitterly. “I mean, who would want to fuck him? He’d probably stab you in the middle of it.”

“Some people are into that,” said Matt.

Neil could feel himself blushing. Katelyn grabbed his arm and pulled him farther away from the counter so they couldn’t be overheard. “What are they talking about?” she hissed.

Neil shrugged. “I don’t know.” Andrew often gave him weird excuses to explain his absences, but he assumed it had to do with his twin charade. He supposed there was always the possibility that he was actually covering up the fact that he was sleeping around.

“Is Andrew seeing other people?” She sounded incensed.

“We haven’t talked about it,” said Neil irritably, shaking her off. “Is not-Andrew?”

Katelyn sighed. “That’s different. You know that I’m fine with casual sex; if we sleep together and I find out he’s a player I’ll be mad but I’ll get over it. I know that you need to have feelings before you get that far.”

“Nothing’s happened between us,” said Neil.

“Yet,” replied Katelyn. “But make sure whatever is going on between you means as much to him as it does to you.”

“Fine, _mom_,” said Neil derisively.

Katelyn gasped. “That’s the meanest thing you could have called me,” she joked. She pulled him into a hug that he tried to resist. “You know I’m just looking out for you, Bug.”

* * *

Andrew shoved his hands in his pockets, feeling self-conscious as he pushed his way into a high school gym. He’d thought he’d never step foot in a high school again after he graduated last year, but it turned out that he was willing to condescend to do things he had no interest in as long as they made Neil happy.

He’d timed his entrance for the exact moment the game started, not wanting to sit around beforehand in case people tried to talk to him. Or, God forbid, that Neil’s parents figured out who he was. It wasn’t until he was already on his way here that he’d realized that he might run into Neil’s parents. It still threw him off that Neil even had parents that were in the picture. He’d thought he was a college student out on his own.

Still, the dread of running into Neil’s family hadn’t been enough to deter him. He wanted to do something nice for Neil, and coming to watch his high school team play exy was the nicest thing he could think of. Neil hadn’t explicitly invited him; he’d mentioned that he had a game on Thursday night and then sheepishly said that he supposed that Andrew would find it boring.

Andrew _did_ find it boring, much slower than the college games he’d gotten used to. But he kept himself motivated by imagining the smile Neil would give him when he noticed him. Besides, the one bright spot was Neil, who was _quick_ and obviously talented. He’d mentioned that he wanted to play exy at a college level and Andrew figured he’d have no problem being recruited.

Something had been off with Neil all week, ever since Andrew’s birthday. He wondered if Neil was upset that Andrew had declined doing anything for his birthday—he and Aaron had bought two cakes from the nearest bakery and skyped with Nicky in Germany while he ate his own cake (which looked at lot better than theirs). Nicky had howled with laughter as they caught him up on all their recent news, and Andrew was surprised to find that he’d missed Nicky. He hadn’t realized he did until he was hit by a wave of sharp relief when his familiar, pixelated face showed up on his laptop screen. It was comforting to know that despite what he’d told Neil he finally _did_ have family he cared about and who cared about him.

He was slightly worried that Neil’s reticence meant he wanted to break up; he thought everything was going well, but he wasn’t blind to the fact that Neil was out of his league and would realize it sooner or later.

Neil didn’t notice him until half-time. He was sitting on his team’s bench, drinking out of a water bottle and letting his attention wander from whatever his coach was saying. Andrew could tell the second he saw him by the way he tensed up completely. He was far enough away that Andrew couldn’t easily see his expression, but he shook his head, probably in disbelief before he sent Andrew a tiny salute. Andrew returned it and made a shooing motion for Neil to get back to his game.

The second half seemed to last longer than the first as Andrew had more than his fill of exy. The only good thing was that Neil knew he was watching now, and kept sending little glances into the stands every time he did something particularly impressive. Andrew could tell he was showing off and he felt oddly proud of himself that Neil wanted to show off for him.

Finally, the game was over. “Hold on a minute!” Neil called to him before disappearing into the changerooms. Andrew crossed his arms defensively as several curious stares turned on him. He hoped none of these people were Neil’s parents; there was no one that closely resembled him, anyway. Maybe his parents were absentee and didn’t come watch his games.

“Hey,” said Neil, rushing over to him breathlessly, still dripping from what had to be the world’s quickest shower. “I didn’t know you were coming!” His stupid face was like the fucking sun; Andrew felt the need to turn away from it.

“It was meant as a surprise,” he muttered.

“Well, I’m surprised,” said Neil. “And happy! I’m glad you came.” His face was flushed and he was looking down at where he was digging the toe of his shoe into the floor.

“Good,” said Andrew. “Do you want to go get ice cream?”

“Yeah, sure! But, uh, can we talk first?”

“Um,” said Andrew. He knew he was new to this whole relationship thing but he wasn’t stupid enough to think “we need to talk” was a _good_ sign.

“One sec,” said Neil glancing over his shoulder; there was an older man watching them talk with great interest. “Let me just go tell my dad.” He rushed over and began talking a mile a minute to his stepfather. Despite his discombobulation at Neil’s words, Andrew watched their interaction closely; he had suspicions about Neil’s stepfather. None of them seemed true as Neil was completely at ease, not even flinching slightly when his stepfather clapped him on the shoulder.

His stepfather nodded and looked up again at Andrew before walking over to him. Andrew wanted to bolt; he wasn’t interested in meeting anyone’s parents (especially since it seemed like Neil was about to break up with him).

“George, no,” whined Neil, ineffectually pulling on his arm. “Don’t—oh God.”

“You must be Andrew,” said George jovially. “I’ve heard almost nothing about you.”

“Uh,” said Andrew eloquently.

His lack of coherent response didn’t seem to deter Neil’s stepfather. “Neil says you don’t have any family in town; what are you doing for Thanksgiving?”

“Uh,” said Andrew, not expecting the non sequitur.

“We’d be thrilled if you’d spend it with us,” George continued, seemingly oblivious to Andrew’s ability to produce only nonsensical monosyllables.

“_Dad_, stop it,” said Neil sharply.

“Alright, alright,” said George, putting his hands up in surrender. “I was only being polite.” He looked back to Andrew, “The invitation stands. But I’ll get out of your hair. Have fun, boys. Neil, be home no later than 10:30, you hear, or I’ll leave you to your mother.”

Neil’s face was bright red as he propelled Andrew out of the gym and away from his stepfather. “Well that was mortifying,” he said as they stepped out into the cool night air.

“What did you want to talk about?” Andrew forced out, biting the bullet.

“Oh,” said Neil, avoiding eye contact and rubbing the back of his neck. “I don’t want to have sex with you,” he blurted.

It wasn’t the _worst_ thing he could have said, but it didn’t feel great either. “Okay…” said Andrew slowly. Was this breaking up?

“I’m not saying I’ll never want to have sex with you just that I don’t want to have sex right now and it’s not you I don’t want to have sex with anybody I’m not ready for that and my sister keeps going on about setting clear boundaries and we haven’t discussed any yet and I didn’t want you to think that I was leading you on but if it’s the only thing you’re interested in then you’re going to be disappointed,” Neil rambled all in one breath before gulping and looking in Andrew nervously.

“You’re…” Andrew tried to take in all the information. “You don’t want to have sex right now.”

Neil shook his head. “I like kissing you, but I don’t want any more than that,” he said, turning red again.

“Alright,” said Andrew, feeling unexpectedly relieved. It wasn’t that he wasn’t interested in doing more with Neil, it was that he didn’t think he was ready for that, either. Sure, he was fine with hookups, but he wasn’t ready to mix this newfangled emotional vulnerability with physical intimacy just yet. “If you don’t mind me asking, are you ace?”

“That depends,” said Neil, “on what that means.”

“I’ll send you some resources,” said Andrew. His therapist at juvie who had helped him come to grips with his sexuality had made him read a lot of information about different possible sexualities and the effects of abuse on identity.

“And… are you seeing anyone else?” asked Neil, seemingly bracing for a blow.

“What? No,” said Andrew. Where would he find the time?

“Cause it’s okay if you are—I know we didn’t set any guidelines—but from now on I’d prefer that we be exclusive.”

“We already are.”

“It’s just… I heard a rumour,” said Neil, biting his lip.

“What kind of rumour?” asked Andrew, wondering who the hell was talking about him. He didn’t think he was interesting or noticeable to be the subject of gossip.

“From the exy team? About how you sleep around? If that’s—I don’t—that’s not what I want.”

Andrew felt half like laughing incredulously and half like face palming. “I don’t like sleeping in my dorm and they made assumptions,” he said instead. “Too many strangers,” he added as explanation. Neil didn’t know any of his early history, but he’d dropped a couple hints that he was pretty sure Neil understood. Just like the way Andrew understood that Neil had something in his past by the way he shied away from unknown men of a certain build. It wasn’t his stepfather, that much was clear, but there was _someone_.

“Makes sense,” said Neil, this time valiantly fighting off a smile. “Oh, and you don’t have to come for Thanksgiving. That was just my stepdad being a weirdo. My birth father is a literal piece of garbage, so George overcompensates sometimes.”

“Do you not want me to come?”

“Hey, if you want to hang out and eat awesome food while my family grills you, be my guest,” said Neil. “I have to warn you though: you’re my first boyfriend, so they’re going to be awful.”

“Boyfriend?” echoed Andrew.

“Oh,” said Neil, looking everywhere but at Andrew. “Sorry, I know we haven’t discussed it. If you don’t want—”

“It’s okay,” said Andrew, pushing through the awkwardness. He’d talked about this a couple times with Betsy Dobson—she had ended up being more helpful than he’d anticipated. At first he’d objected whenever she referred to him and Neil being in a relationship, not wanting to admit that his thing with Neil meant anything. But denying what was happening didn’t mean protecting himself from it. He figured that it would hurt just as much if Neil decided to stop seeing him whether he called him his boyfriend or not. And if Neil wanted to… Stiltedly, he forced out, “We can be. That.”

“Okay,” said Neil, with a blinding grin. “Can we go for ice cream now?”

“Yes,” said Andrew, getting into his car. That hadn’t been as bad as he was expecting. Neil hadn’t broken up with him and they were now officially boyfriends.

“Wait a minute.” Neil’s gaze sharpened, as he thought back to what Andrew had said earlier. “If you don’t sleep in your dorm, where do you sleep?”

“My cousin helps me pay rent on an off campus apartment,” he explained.

“Oh my God,” said Neil. Andrew couldn’t tell what he’d said to garner that reaction. “I’m dating someone who has his own place? My mom’s going to flip. Definitely don’t mention it if you ever meet her.”

“Oh,” said Andrew, thoughts immediately flooding his mind about what he and Neil could get up to alone at his place. Of course that could never happen with Aaron there. Good thing they were taking things slow, or else Andrew would have been tempted to take Neil back to his place and damn the consequences.

Pretending that he and Aaron were one person was becoming increasingly complicated. He hoped it didn’t backfire completely.

* * *

  
Despite the fact that Neil was adamant that Andrew didn’t need to spend Thanksgiving with his family, there were a couple subtle tells that Andrew thought meant he wanted him there. Spending an awkward afternoon with Neil’s family wasn’t high on his priorities list, but he was willing to suck it up and power through if it would make Neil happy (wow, he had turned pathetically whipped really quickly, hadn’t he?).

At least he wasn’t the only Minyard suffering. Aaron had agreed to go to his girlfriend’s (who was apparently named Katelyn) for Thanksgiving. They commiserated with each other, especially after they told Nicky their plans and he burst into tears and told them how proud he was of them. The only way it could have been worse was if he was actually in the same room as them, which would have led to hugging.

“Can you drop me off at Katelyn’s?” Aaron asked on Thanksgiving day, nervously smoothing down his button down shirt. He looked tired and wrung out; the semester was almost over and he was deep in the throes of revision.

Technically he and Andrew shared the car, but in reality it was Andrew’s. “Sure,” he said, lifting one shoulder. “Where does she live?”

Aaron told him the address. Andrew stared at him. “Repeat that,” he demanded. Aaron did. It hadn’t changed. A strange chill overcame Andrew. “What’s her last name?” he asked in as strangled voice.

“Josten,” replied Aaron. “Why?”

“She has a younger brother, yes?”

“Yeah, she—” Aaron’s eyes widened as he understood what Andrew was implying. “_Noooooooo_,” he moaned. “There’s _no way_.”

Andrew didn’t reply. Neil had spoken of his sister but he’d never called her by name. Andrew had no reason to suspect that she was the one dating Aaron.

“What are we going to do?” asked Aaron helplessly.

“Move away and change our identities?” suggested Andrew.

Aaron looked like he was considering it. “We’ve got to—they _both_ invited us for Thanksgiving. They _must_ know.”

“So it would appear.”

“Do you think it’s a trap? Or, wait, do they think they’re dating the same person?”

The possibility that Neil thought Andrew was lying to him and secretly dating his sister made Andrew feel ill. “No,” he said forcefully. “They can’t.”

“Should we just avoid them from now until the end of time?” asked Aaron fretfully. “Cause I don’t want to. I really like her.”

And Andrew still liked Neil and found him interesting. He didn’t want to lose him. “I guess we’d better go face the music,” he said reluctantly.

* * *

“Welcome!” said George Josten blithely as he answered his door in response to Andrew pressing the doorbell. “Andrew,” continued George, nodding, “nice to see you again. And, sorry,” here he looked at Aaron, “Katelyn wasn’t forthcoming with your name.”

“I’m Aaron,” he said, shooting Andrew a look that showed he shared Andrew’s confusion at the friendliness of the greeting.

“Well, come on in,” said George. “I’m Neil and Katelyn’s father. You can call me George.” He led them farther into the house toward the kitchen. There was a thin, austere-looking woman there, clutching an oversized wine glass containing a healthy volume of red wine. “This is my wife, Mary,” introduced George.

“You may call me Mrs. Josten,” she said frostily.

“Mary,” sighed George, sounding fond. He turned back to the twins. “The food’ll be ready in about an hour. You can go join the kids down in the rec room ‘til then. I’ll give a holler when the turkey’s cooked.” He ushered them to a stairwell that led to a basement.

Andrew felt like he was being led to the executioner's block as he descended the stairs, Aaron at his back. The stairs ended in a plush, carpeted room. There were a couple couches and bean bag chairs around a television complete with several different game consoles, an overflowing bookshelf, a desk covered in papers and a computer monitor, and an air hockey table against the far wall. There were also two redheads, watching him with piercing blue eyes. The one who must be Katelyn did look vaguely familiar; Andrew supposed he must have seen her at the coffee shop without noticing her or realizing who she was.

“Hey, Andrew,” said Neil lightly. His gaze shifted to Aaron. “And twin.” He didn’t sound or look the least bit surprised.

Andrew sighed. “How long have you known?”

“That there are two Minyards? Since about the second time I saw you back in June,” said Neil. “You guys may be twins, but you’re not the same… you know that, right?”

“Obviously _we_ know that,” said Aaron testily. Andrew could tell that his insecurity was manifesting as anger.

Neil bristled immediately. “Well, I couldn’t be sure since you clearly thought _we_ couldn’t tell.”

Katelyn laid a calming hand on his shoulder. “Did you really think it was the best course of action to make us think we were dating the same person?”

Aaron looked chastised. “We didn’t know you knew each other,” he muttered.

Katelyn and Neil both stared at them as if they were insane.

“It was Aaron’s idea,” said Andrew quickly.

Aaron jabbed him in the back. “Way to throw me under the bus,” he complained.

“Aaron,” said Katelyn. “So that’s your name.”

“Uh,” said Aaron. “Yeah.”

“And are you going to _explain_ why you’re pretending to be the same person, or…?” She let the question hang in the air for a moment.

Aaron hastily began to go over their reasons, tripping over his words in his haste to get them out.

“Oh my God,” said Neil when he was finished, a strange look coming over his face. Andrew braced himself. “You’re a genius!” exclaimed Neil.

Andrew blinked in surprise. He had never felt less like a genius than when Aaron was explaining their entire convoluted plan.

Katelyn seemed to understand her brother’s thought process, though. “_No_, Bug,” she said sharply.

“But, Kitty,” Neil whined, “he gets to play exy _without going to school_.”

“_No_,” reiterated Katelyn. “One: you don’t have a twin. And two, you’re not getting out of doing your homework, so don’t even think about it.”

Neil slumped and crossed his arms petulantly. “_Fine_.”

That taken care of, Katelyn turned back to the twins. “Despite my brother’s misplaced enthusiasm, you guys know that’s a terrible plan, don’t you? How’s Aaron ever going to continue in life without a diploma in his own name? Is he going to pretend to be Andrew forever while Andrew fades into obscurity? Did you even think about—” She cut herself off and shook her head ruefully. “No, of course you didn’t. You thought it was convincing to tell me that you went by ‘A’.”

“It’s a perfectly legitimate nickname for me,” said Aaron stiffly.

Neil snorted. “Sure it is, A-ron.” Andrew felt a hot glow of affection bloom in his chest.

Aaron clenched his jaw. “You two assholes deserve each other.”

Katelyn paid no attention to the exchange. She was still talking, mostly to herself. “And what about—” she muttered, before getting off the couch and grabbing a notebook from the desk. She sat down again and opened it. “Okay, you two are hopeless, but we’ll figure out a better plan. I’ve got ideas. Let’s make notes.” She looked up at them expectantly.

“Wha—you’re going to _help_ us?” stuttered Aaron.

“Of course we are,” scoffed Neil. “You’re clearly in need of some practical and intelligent guidance.”

Andrew raised an eyebrow at him.

“Oh, not from me,” said Neil easily. “Katelyn’s the brains around here. But I can provide snacks!”

“And he’s good at lying,” added Katelyn. “Which neither of _you_ are. Work on it.”

“Also, why are you both still hovering?” asked Neil. “Come sit down, you weirdos.”

Andrew caught Aaron’s eye; after a moment Aaron shrugged, his expression relieved and happy. And a little lovesick when he glanced at Katelyn. Andrew had no idea how they arrived here, but he was glad they had. He took a seat on the couch next to Neil, who passed him a bowl of popcorn as soon as he did. He then waited for Andrew’s nod of acceptance before draping his legs over Andrew’s lap and making himself comfortable.

“Okay, first things first,” said Katelyn. “We _absolutely _cannot tell our mother anything about any of this…”

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, Neil's stepdad is named George because "George Josten" is almost "George Jetson". _Yes_, I've have the Jetsons' theme song in my head for a week.
> 
> I can be found on tumblr [@gluupor](http://gluupor.tumblr.com).


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